Building a software application can be a very timely and tedious process. This process may consist of writing a technical specification, pseudocode, or any combination thereof. Thereafter, an application is written in a selected programming language, compiled, debugged, and executed. Modifying a software application can sometimes be just as tedious since a component must be recompiled every time it is modified.
The traditional software development process statically links needed components (functions, etc.) at link time. This means that any components that are to be modified must be modified before an application that uses the component is executed at runtime. Consequently, if the modifications are being worked on, or are incorrect, the application must be shut down until modifications to the component are complete.